Winter Cityscape

Supplies:
White or grey construction paper
White oil pastel
Pencil
Blue water color
Paintbrush

I love cityscapes and this project turned out to be really fun.  I got the idea from this book (which was one of my favorite Christmas presents this year... that and the awesome art calendar I got from my third grader in Mrs. Guerrero's class.  They worked hard on a lot of great art projects).

First, I talked to the class about reflections: where they see them, how they are made, and asked if they have ever seen reflections on a lake or river.

Next, we took a sheet of white construction paper, positioned it horizontally, folded it in half to get a long horizontal crease line in the middle of the paper.  We unfolded the paper and drew a thick solid line right on that crease to establish our horizon line. (The horizon line represents where the sky meets the flat earth). 

Then we drew a simple cityscape of rectangles and squares rising from the horizon line. (Ask the students to push firmly on the oil pastels to get a good, waxy drawing).  We talked about depth and perception and how it looks more realistic to draw the buildings almost as if they were growing out of each other rather than each individually.

*Note, if we'd had grey paper, it would have been easier.  The white oil pastel on white paper was a little hard to see.  I will work on getting some grey paper in our supply. 

After they had drawn buildings, they added stars, a moon, windows in the buildings, and other details.

Next, we folded the paper in half again, and rubbed the back side of the paper with a pencil. They need to rub hard to get the drawing to transfer to the bottom half of the paper.  When you open the paper, the drawing should have lightly transferred to the bottom half. 

Then, paint the top half of the paper with a dark blue watercolor.  The pastel will resist the paint.  Next, paint the lower half of the drawing with a lighter blue. 

The "resist" reflection showed up better on some than others, but they were still pleased with the outcome.